ty_n_cy
Early Summer Dreaming...
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2009
- Messages
- 192
So, in my intro to the forum... I basically laid it out there just to say hi. This will be the hub for all that happens to, for and around us before we embark on our journey. I'll re-introduce ourselves first.
Me: I am the husband/daddy of the group. My name is Chuck. I'm 30 and, sadly... I've never been to Disney World. I've lived a fairly simple life... growing up in Northwestern New Jersey, our family vacations consisted of camping. Furthest we got from home was Vermont, as we spent a few years up there camping during the summers. Once my wife and I met, we started to explore a bit, but still... we never truly had the means to do so. As a result, our travels have been limited. Jamaica has been our furthest travel. We visited Ocho Rios in March of 2003... and the following April, we were married in Montego Bay and spent 10 glorious days there. Beyond that, outside of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania... we've visited Stratton Mountain in Vermont twice (2003 and 2004) and we spent a week in Gatlinburg, Tennessee visiting Dollywood and the surrounding areas in November of 2007. To say I'm well-traveled would be a lie.
My wife: Tiffany is 28 years old and without a doubt, the reason I'm living the life I've had for the past 10 years. Similar to me, she hasn't traveled much. Her family lived the first 17+ years of her life in Jersey City. Not great surroundings, for sure... but a good family, so it balanced out. Her family travels took her to the Jersey Shore, but not much else. When we met, we sort of vowed to give our children things we didn't have (doesn't everybody, though?)... and we've tried to do that. Unfortunately, young parents of three children don't often have much extra spending cash laying around, ya know? Until now, we've visited some local places... Hershey Park, Dorney Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, blah-blah-blah. Now, it's time for Disney World!
Our oldest child: Tyler is 9 years old and spent almost the first 6 years of his life as the only child. Easy times for him. Every thing we bought, was his. Now, not so much. In his 9 years, we've discovered that he's much like I was as a child. Extremely athletic, a know-it-all... and fun loving. He's visited Hershey, Dorney, Six Flags and Dollywood and he's now getting to the point where some of the thrill rides appeal to him, so that breaks up the Lady Bugs and Carousel rides a bit. Being the oldest, the primary reason for the trip is him. For that reason, we decided to book the Pirate Themed rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort.
Our middle child: Madison is 3 years old. She is absolutely, 100% her mothers daughter. Personality, looks, attitude... everything. She's our princess, and a day doesn't go by without her reminding us of that very thing. A big deciding factor in actually doing this was the thought of the glow on her face when she meets Cinderella. I'm not an emotional guy (unless sports are involved) but, somehow, 'dust' seems to find its way into my eyes every time I think of that coming moment. Madison will be mommy's shopping buddy, and I'm sure that at some point, mommy will be mistaken for Madison's sister while walking the mall in years to come.
Our youngest, and likely last child: Brielle just turned 2 less than a week ago. She worships the ground her older sister walks on and is picking up the same personality traits. Although they look nothing alike, they are mistaken for twins nearly everywhere we visit. If you looked up the definition of attitude, a picture of the three girls in my life would be there, but the youngest takes the cake in that department. The finger-snapping diva of the family gets her way by batting her eyelashes and flashing her chipmunk-cheek smile.
So, about our trip. It was sort of short notice. We had talked about it, and in our heads, we listed the pro's and con's. The main reason we DIDN'T want to visit yet was because we're not sure if this will be a trip we'd be able to do again in the future, and we didn't want to 'waste' our trip down there on 2 girls who 'may be' too young to enjoy it, let alone remember it. In the end, however, we decided that if we REALLY wanted to do it again, we would... and plus, Tyler is getting towards that age where pretty soon... we're going to be 'lame' and he's not going to want to be walking around Disney with his two little sisters visiting the kiddie rides.
After some more debate, we chose the Caribbean Beach Resort. Reasons include:
We will be driving from New Jersey (probably back, too
). We'll leave on Wednesday, May 20th at about 7 pm. We expect, splitting the drive between the two of us and letting the girls sleep through the majority of the night, to arrive around 3 pm the following day. We know it's a long drive, and we've debated stopping... but the plan is to do it in one shot. If we tire, we'll hop on the iPhone and pick us out a local hotel to stop at on Priceline. But long drives have never been a bother. We pulled the drive to Tennessee in just under 15 hours (with many stops to change the girls)... so we're confident that giving us 20 hours to get to Orlando should be just about right.
We're scheduled to arrive at CBR on May 21st, and our check-out date is the following Thursday, May 28th. We've booked 7 day park passes with the Water Park & More option, but we've elected to skip the Park Hopper option. We've also included the Deluxe Dining Plan. We figure that with Brielle being under 3, she'll be able to share off of Madison's plate, and the 3 meals a day for the $1300 cost of the plan for our stay should save us around $500 for the trip, as opposed to eating those 3 meals each day and paying out of pocket for them.
So far, our itinerary is extremely open. The only things we've booked so far are listed below:
Since this trip planning is really in its infancy, any feedback would be appreciated. That includes feedback on our Dining Plan choice and anything else you can help out with.
As we update our itinerary a bit, I'll update this thread. Again, we're newbies, so if something seems out of place, or if there is a better way for us to plan... we're absolutely open to suggestions.
Thanks!
Me: I am the husband/daddy of the group. My name is Chuck. I'm 30 and, sadly... I've never been to Disney World. I've lived a fairly simple life... growing up in Northwestern New Jersey, our family vacations consisted of camping. Furthest we got from home was Vermont, as we spent a few years up there camping during the summers. Once my wife and I met, we started to explore a bit, but still... we never truly had the means to do so. As a result, our travels have been limited. Jamaica has been our furthest travel. We visited Ocho Rios in March of 2003... and the following April, we were married in Montego Bay and spent 10 glorious days there. Beyond that, outside of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania... we've visited Stratton Mountain in Vermont twice (2003 and 2004) and we spent a week in Gatlinburg, Tennessee visiting Dollywood and the surrounding areas in November of 2007. To say I'm well-traveled would be a lie.
My wife: Tiffany is 28 years old and without a doubt, the reason I'm living the life I've had for the past 10 years. Similar to me, she hasn't traveled much. Her family lived the first 17+ years of her life in Jersey City. Not great surroundings, for sure... but a good family, so it balanced out. Her family travels took her to the Jersey Shore, but not much else. When we met, we sort of vowed to give our children things we didn't have (doesn't everybody, though?)... and we've tried to do that. Unfortunately, young parents of three children don't often have much extra spending cash laying around, ya know? Until now, we've visited some local places... Hershey Park, Dorney Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, blah-blah-blah. Now, it's time for Disney World!
Our oldest child: Tyler is 9 years old and spent almost the first 6 years of his life as the only child. Easy times for him. Every thing we bought, was his. Now, not so much. In his 9 years, we've discovered that he's much like I was as a child. Extremely athletic, a know-it-all... and fun loving. He's visited Hershey, Dorney, Six Flags and Dollywood and he's now getting to the point where some of the thrill rides appeal to him, so that breaks up the Lady Bugs and Carousel rides a bit. Being the oldest, the primary reason for the trip is him. For that reason, we decided to book the Pirate Themed rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort.
Our middle child: Madison is 3 years old. She is absolutely, 100% her mothers daughter. Personality, looks, attitude... everything. She's our princess, and a day doesn't go by without her reminding us of that very thing. A big deciding factor in actually doing this was the thought of the glow on her face when she meets Cinderella. I'm not an emotional guy (unless sports are involved) but, somehow, 'dust' seems to find its way into my eyes every time I think of that coming moment. Madison will be mommy's shopping buddy, and I'm sure that at some point, mommy will be mistaken for Madison's sister while walking the mall in years to come.
Our youngest, and likely last child: Brielle just turned 2 less than a week ago. She worships the ground her older sister walks on and is picking up the same personality traits. Although they look nothing alike, they are mistaken for twins nearly everywhere we visit. If you looked up the definition of attitude, a picture of the three girls in my life would be there, but the youngest takes the cake in that department. The finger-snapping diva of the family gets her way by batting her eyelashes and flashing her chipmunk-cheek smile.
********** - ********** - **********
So, about our trip. It was sort of short notice. We had talked about it, and in our heads, we listed the pro's and con's. The main reason we DIDN'T want to visit yet was because we're not sure if this will be a trip we'd be able to do again in the future, and we didn't want to 'waste' our trip down there on 2 girls who 'may be' too young to enjoy it, let alone remember it. In the end, however, we decided that if we REALLY wanted to do it again, we would... and plus, Tyler is getting towards that age where pretty soon... we're going to be 'lame' and he's not going to want to be walking around Disney with his two little sisters visiting the kiddie rides.
After some more debate, we chose the Caribbean Beach Resort. Reasons include:
- We love Jamaica, which is, obviously, in the Caribbean...
- Tyler is a fan (as are most 9 year old boys) of pirates...
- It was between one of the All-Star resorts and CBR, and my wife is a huge music fan, while I'm a sports-nut... and it didn't seem fair for one of us to enjoy it more than the other - so we went with CBR and after researching our decision, we couldn't be happier...
We will be driving from New Jersey (probably back, too
). We'll leave on Wednesday, May 20th at about 7 pm. We expect, splitting the drive between the two of us and letting the girls sleep through the majority of the night, to arrive around 3 pm the following day. We know it's a long drive, and we've debated stopping... but the plan is to do it in one shot. If we tire, we'll hop on the iPhone and pick us out a local hotel to stop at on Priceline. But long drives have never been a bother. We pulled the drive to Tennessee in just under 15 hours (with many stops to change the girls)... so we're confident that giving us 20 hours to get to Orlando should be just about right.We're scheduled to arrive at CBR on May 21st, and our check-out date is the following Thursday, May 28th. We've booked 7 day park passes with the Water Park & More option, but we've elected to skip the Park Hopper option. We've also included the Deluxe Dining Plan. We figure that with Brielle being under 3, she'll be able to share off of Madison's plate, and the 3 meals a day for the $1300 cost of the plan for our stay should save us around $500 for the trip, as opposed to eating those 3 meals each day and paying out of pocket for them.
So far, our itinerary is extremely open. The only things we've booked so far are listed below:
- Saturday, May 23rd - Madison is scheduled to have her hair, nails and makeup done at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Magic Kingdom at 6:45 pm (the latest appointment they had).
- Saturday, May 23rd - We'll be having dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table at 9:45 pm (unfortunately the earliest seating they had available).
Note: To accomodate both appointments, we're going to return to the hotel early-afternoon for naps to avoid having the girls become upset and unruly. - Tuesday, May 26th - Tyler is scheduled to go on the Pirate's Treasure Hunt cruise leaving from the Port Royal Resort at 9:30 am (the cruise was booked leaving CBR, so we settled).
Since this trip planning is really in its infancy, any feedback would be appreciated. That includes feedback on our Dining Plan choice and anything else you can help out with.
As we update our itinerary a bit, I'll update this thread. Again, we're newbies, so if something seems out of place, or if there is a better way for us to plan... we're absolutely open to suggestions.
Thanks!
(5/27) - We wanted to make sure we experienced as many Character Dining meals as possible, so we tried to fit a few more in here. Wednesday looks like this:
